Post by blue on Dec 18, 2020 20:00:00 GMT
APPEARANCE
Midnightstar's pelt is as his name suggests, pitch black from head to toe with no spots of other coloration. His nose, pads, and ears are completely black. Even in the best lighting, it is difficult to tell his features apart from each other. His eyes are a bright yellow, the only real notable feature of his. The midnight-black pelt is short and sleek, helping him adapt to the wetness and muddiness of MudClan territory. He is both a tall and a large cat. Towering over other cats is certainly another feature that adds to his intimidating and condescending presence.
PERSONALITY
He is easy to describe, as his personality is many times as flamboyant as his unnoticeable appearance. Mysterious and dark, Midnightstar is a frightening sight and presence. He has a deep voice that sounds almost like a low rumble. He fluctuates wildly between not caring for anything and throwing fitful tantrums about the smallest disobedience to his orders. While much of his history is of violence of warfare, Midnightstar is a great warrior. He has led his Clan through darker times and persevered through mutiny and betrayal. Like a light in the dark, much of MudClan looks up to him as a commander despite fearing his rage. He is, after all, a strong and ambitious cat capable of getting the Clan's attention. His strict adherence to the warrior code alongside his ability to give motivating and rallying speeches certainly speak to some fitting abilities as a leader.
In leadership, he tends to be unpredictable, often lettings his feelings and intuitions dictate his actions rather than logic. Midnightstar has little tolerance for cats that argue with him, for he is incredibly stubborn and hates being wrong. In the past, he was also known to be a very violent and terrifying cat who would stop at nothing to pursue his ambitions. Midnightstar has great visions for MudClan, although nowadays, he is more hesitant to pursue them in fear of mutiny in his Clan. That does not stop his own Clan, or other Clans, from whispering about his seemingly power-hungry and blood-thirsty ways.
Yet no matter how controversial his personality is, Midnightstar is MudClan leader, and he does work his very hardest to fulfill this role. He is fiercely loyal to his Clan and will care not how much he sacrifices to keep them safe. Growing up, he has fostered a deep connection to the MudClan lifestyle in all of its weirdness and eccentricity. Being a rather eccentric cat himself, he has a hard time keeping this love for his life to himself. He loves welcoming newcomers into the Clan with elaborate speeches about the merits of MudClan territory and MudClan life. Being one of the more open-minded and accepting leaders, Midnightstar is eager to welcome nearly anyone into his Clan.
However, that is not to say he trusts them. Trust and respect are earned in Midnightstar's book, and so he trusts and respects very few. He holds his friends close, and all other cats at several tail-lengths away. With most cats, he is blunt and to the point, never speaking more than what is necessary to conduct Clan business. All in all, Midnightstar is a character that is still learning and developing in his abilities. A cat who never should have been selected in a position of leadership, Midnightstar is slowly learning how to wield power responsibility, with many unfortunate lessons learned the hard way.
FAMILY
Father:
Mother:
Brother: Eveningfire (adopt)
Sister: Morningfrost (adopt)
Mentor:
Apprentice: Wisteriafur (adopt)
Mate:
Son: Falconpaw (adopt)
HISTORY
-20 moons
Jaggedfur and Blackflower were a young couple when they “betrayed” ThornClan. The two lovebirds, born into a generation of fighting and chaos, simply could not stand the fighting any longer. They sought refuge as loners, living a peaceful life outside the Clans. However, such an unstructured and meaningless life inevitably made them feel bored. They were still Clan cats, and so there was another difficult but viable option. The two joined MudClan.
It would take them moons and moons to prove their loyalty to their new Clan, and so they did. Jaggedfur became deputy of MudClan despite his ThornClan origins after many moons, and he would serve MudClan with all the might and respect that he had won. Equally dutifully, Blackflower bore the Clan several litters of kits, the most recent being the litter of Midnightkit, Morningkit, and Eveningkit.
00 moons
But those moons were difficult ones for MudClan. The Clan struggled with its dwindling population and were constantly bullied by the stronger and more aggressive Clans, StormClan and ThornClan. The passive and peaceful leader, Echostar, was as eccentric as any MudClan cat. She preferred their life of solitude and peace and was not willing to give that up, no matter the costs. And so, despite welcoming the family, the three kits were often bullied and teased for their ThornClan blood.
He was a fighter from the start. They called him Midnightkit. Loud, boisterous, and erratic in comparison to his more timid and quiet siblings, he did not take well to being pushed around. Even his mother, Blackflower, knew not what to do about his constant tantrums. Upon learning of his ThornClan origins, Midnightkit is appalled and angry, finally understanding the root of the other kits’ bullying.
06 moons
Midnightpaw is apprenticed under Shadefern, an aggressive and cunning warrior. She taught him to care greatly for power and to aspire to do great things. But this was not all for his apprentice days. Midnightpaw had a hard time, repeatedly defending his more passive brother, Eveningpaw, from being a target of bullying in the apprentices’ den. It affected him greatly, as he felt his family was never truly accepted into MudClan. Morningpaw, on the other hand, grew distant from the rest of the Clan. She seemed to dislike the MudClan way of life, becoming increasingly resentful of her duties and the muddiness required of MudClan warriors. Morningpaw would become a warrior at least 4 moons after Midnightpaw and Eveningpaw despite her superior work ethic.
12 moons
Upon becoming a warrior, Midnightpaw is named Midnightclaw. He had grown ever closer to his brother, now Eveningfire, but this would be the closest the two of them would ever be in brotherhood. Political ideology and the lure of responsibilities would soon drive the two of them apart. Midnightclaw was a tough and stoic tomcat. He believed the other Clans to be inferior, a threat to MudClan's well-being. He had heard other Clans ridiculing MudClan for their eccentricity and despised that they looked down on MudClan. However, his siblings somehow did not seem to mind the other Clan's ridicule. Morningfrost even, at times, seemed to agree with them.
20 moons
Wisteriapaw is apprenticed to Midnightclaw. A quiet and timid she-cat, Midnightclaw has a very hard time training her and the two are never quite friends.
30 moons
Jaggedfur was getting older, and he planned on having a peaceful retirement with his mate Blackflower. He spoke to Echostar about this, and Echostar, having a bad case of dementia, could not seem to remember what was going on. She insisted that perhaps one of Jaggedfur's sons could be the next deputy, as she could not bear to lead the Clan without Jaggedfur as deputy. Jaggedfur suggested his son Eveningfire was a good choice, since he was level-headed and peace-loving like the rest of them.
However, upon calling the Clan meeting, Echostar's memory failed her once again and sh could not quite remember which of Jaggedfur's sons he had recommended. She chose Midnightclaw, since he was the louder one. Midnightclaw questioned whether he should be seizing power unintentionally; however, the cunning Shadefern quickly shushed him at the deputy ceremony, telling him not to take these coincidences for the granted. Unfortunately, Eveningfire and Jaggedfur likely knew this as well, since Echostar had spoken to him about deputyship not long before. The family had a bitter falling out, but what could they do? To Midnightclaw and the rest of the Clan, Midnightclaw had rightfully been named deputy.
40 moons
As the aging Echostar grew older and sicker, she began to fall out of the Clan’s decision-making process. Midnightclaw began to take on more and more power, leading his Clan aggressively into battle with StormClan and ThornClan. He ruled with an iron fist, easily overtaking Echostar’s lack of presence. The frail Echostar was no longer in the right mind to rule the Clan, and she simply went along with or agreed with everything that Midnightclaw said.
Finally, Echostar dies quietly in her den one morning, and Midnightstar becomes leader. Now with full control, Midnightstar follows his ambition be make MudClan a greater presence in the forest. He expanded MudClan’s territory and threatened the other Clans with more expansion at Gatherings. His brother Eveningfire was appalled and attempted to speak to Midnightstar many times about the responsibilities of power. But Midnightstar would not hear it.
42 moons
Midnightstar tightened training regulations and increased patrols. Every cat felt exhausted from their duties and the constant battles that Midnightstar instigated for little to no reason. As Midnightstar’s demands grew more outrageous, several cats staged a coup, led by none other than his former apprentice, Wisteriafur. Eveningfire was also originally part of this coup. However, when the cats plotted to kill Midnightstar, Eveningfire could not bear to lay claws upon his own brother who had, after all, once defended him during their apprenticeship. Eveningfire reported the whole incident to Midnightstar. Outraged, Midnightstar rounded up the coup’s participants.
Wisteriafur, willing to take her chances, attacked Midnightstar in response. Midnightstar could not believe that his former apprentice would try to kill him. He easily beat her in the fight and would have killed her if it were not for Eveningfire’s protest. Instead, he took out one of her eyes in response, leaving her wounded and half-blind. He then exiled her alongside the other dissenters.
To his surprise, his sister Morningfrost announced she would be going with the exiled cats. While she had not been a part of the coup and held Midnightstar no ill-will, she calmly told Midnightstar that she had never felt at home in the bogs and marshlands of MudClan. Additionally, after seeing Midnightstar's disastrous reign, she had made the decision to leave. True to her ThornClan roots, she would join ThornClan, taking the former MudClan dissenters with her.
45 moons
Midnightstar might have continued on in his reign of terror, if it were not for a loner named Lotus. Once a nomadic cat, she was surprised by the hostility of StormClan and ThornClan so closely guarding their territories, and sought out somewhere to stay the night. Midnightstar was entranced by her the moment she set foot in the camp. An alluring she-cat with beautiful eyes, she was as strong as she was intriguing. And as someone who had always been independent, Lotus cared not for Midnightstar’s power and certainly did not let his strong personality walk all over her. She asserted her beliefs and Midnightstar, in hopes of keeping her around, often swayed to her opinion.
Lotus was disgusted by the constant fighting that Midnightstar instigated. She made it clear and was defiant against his orders. She was a caring and fiercely loving cat who, did in fact fall in love with Midnightstar, but only chose to stay in the Clan with the condition that he would allow her to have a peaceful life with little warfare. And so Midnightstar did.
For the next moon, he worked hard to withdraw MudClan from further Clan hostilities. Much to the delight of much of his Clan, he relaxed training orders and patrols. If any other cat besides the gentle Lotus had been in such a position of power, things might have gone terribly wrong, but Lotus was a principled and moral character. Shortly after, Lotus became heavy with kits, solidifying her stay in MudClan permanently. She announced her pregnancy and took on the warrior name Whitelotus.
55 moons
Midnightstar's brief happiness did not last long. Whitelotus died to a terrible bout of greencough, along with his two sons Eaglekit and Hawkkit. Unfortunately, there were no other queens in the nursery at the time to suckle the remaining kit. The most recent queen, Snowybird, had decided to leave the nursery and restart her duties as a warrior. Desperate to save his last kit, Midnightstar resorts to raising Falconkit outside the Clans. Remembering Whitelotus' wish to have her kits not be injured in fighting, he chooses FloodClan, which was not locked in the StormClan-ThornClan conflict. In a strange and unexpected visit, he implores FloodClan to take in the kit, but does not tell FloodClan who Falconkit’s parents are, in fear that the kit would be bullied later on for political reasons.
Shadefern, Jaggedfur, and Blackflower also pass in the same bout of sickness. Weakened from moons of fighting, the cats stood no chance against the plague. As if this grief was not enough to teach Midnightstar a lesson, his brother Eveningfire also fell gravely ill. Midnightstar had a complete breakdown, relating the illness to StarClan’s punishment for his greed. He begged Eveningfire not to leave him, and luckily, his brother made a slow recovery.
60 moons
After his Clan recovered from illness, Midnightstar became a more cautious leader. Having lost many cats close to him from his poor decisions, Midnightstar began to doubt his own leadership abilities. His political presence diminished, and he was only ever seen reporting vague news at Gatherings. To outsiders, MudClan even start to seem like a friendly place. Midnightstar, being born of ThornClan cats and bullied for it, welcomes many outsiders into the Clan. He began to change his views on the other Clans. Having a sister in ThornClan and a son in FloodClan, he could not help but lessen his violence toward the other Clans despite their condescending attitude toward MudClan.
However, the moons of bloodshed had certainly done their work. Among the other Clans, even mention of Midnightstar’s name sparked fear and superstition. His temper, his wrath, and his ruthless claws had left a mark in MudClan as well as the entire forest. He continues to be a difficult and suspicious leader, refusing to ever forge alliances with the other Clans.
